In what may be a first (if not a first, surely a rarity) a father and son, are both Catholic priests serving in the same Diocese. Making the story more interesting is that Father Dominic Cosslett(36) and his father Father Ron Cosslett(70) are both converts from the Anglican Church.
This is an interesting story and I encourage you to read the whole thing, but one part struck me as funny and I want to share it with you. Fr. Dominic, obviously trying to be very polite and not insult anyone employs an elegant euphemism for theological anarchy currently running rampant in the Anglican Church.
“I realised my own journey was to seek unity with Rome. Balanced with that was the awareness that the Anglican Church was going in a very different direction with various decisions it was making. I just felt I could not agree with those decisions. It comes down to authority. As an Anglican, it was sometimes very difficult. One parish might believe one thing. Another might believe something else.
“There is an incredible rainbow of thought in the Anglican Church. Perhaps I was looking more for a central authority of teaching that the Catholic Church has. It was something I had always been looking for.”
Father is being kind but I cannot help but wonder, what is it about rainbows?
The Hippies loved their rainbows. The homosexual lobby has used rainbow as its symbol. The leader of of the perpetually aggrieved, Jesse Jackson, had the Rainbow coalition. And of course the MuuMuu Militia loves rainbow colors on their bathrobes turned vestments. For a laugh out loud send up of the rainbow clad priestesses and their love of rainbows read this post. And now the rainbow symbolizes the complete loss of the faith (masquerading as diversity of thought) among the Anglican/Episcopalian hierarchy.
I am sure that I am not the only one who sees the irony that the rainbow has come to symbolize the very decadence of thought and deed that prompted the deluge that almost wiped us out. The symbol of God’s covenant with mankind is twisted to mock his patience with us. That never ends well.
December 31, 2008 at 2:12 am
BTW– apparently we're not the first to struglle with this…
Check out "A Year Without 'Made In China'" Pages 40-42
http://books.google.com/books?id=taikveCUbmgC&pg=PA40&lpg=PA40&dq=kids+shoes+not+made+in+china&source=web&ots=vUO7T6doL_&sig=I681BBUsqe2haeAL-nxKBgggaWo&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=4&ct=result#PPA40,M1
But once again, that means there really aren't any AFFORDABLE kids shoes. At least if you're working class….
December 31, 2008 at 2:24 am
Nancy, I understand your predicament. And it really sounds like you've done your due diligence. Personally, I live in a very metropolitan area with a great deal of selection and options. And whatever we don't have here, we invariable come across when traveling back "home" to Europe or online. So, we aren't stuck with just a Walmart (and I can honestly say I have never entered a Walmart in my life nor will I ever do so).
But I just can't shake the feeling that if a population ONLY has a Walmart, and if no one makes their feelings known to that store but simply instead shrugs and says "that's my only option", then nothing will ever change. If the store sees people buying, it will keep putting the same thing out.
Here's an example: has anyone heard of the MAMA (Moms ask Mattel for Accountability) case? Apparently there was a doll (Little Mommy Real Loving Baby Cuddle and Coo Doll) that came out around Christmas that all the kids wanted and just happened to say "Islam is the light" when the string was pulled. Well, MAMA was formed and the parents went after ALL the retailers which carried the doll; Target, ToysRUs and Walmart). And guess which was the ONLY store NOT to pull the doll? Yup. Walmart. They finally "gave in" and took it down for a day, but put it up for black Friday. So, I have zero respect for them, regardless if they are "the only option" around in some places.
Back to shoes, you can also try this one http://www.like.com/shoes/shoes_not_made_in_china?SID=GOO&CID=GPSHO6c8657b94727c121
or this brand http://www.startriteshoes.com/ both available online.
December 31, 2008 at 2:29 am
The truth is, even for people like me who try so hard, it is totally impossible to avoid MIC items. Shower curtain liners, for example. We don’t own a bathroom scale…guess why? Umbrellas. (It rains where I live – the Navy won’t send us to San Diego!) Car parts.
We do our level best (see above post on shoes), but some purchases, sadly, are unavoidable. (And, there’s no used shower curtain liner or umbrella that I can purchase, in good conscience.)
Sometimes it’s not about saving money, it’s about having said item at all…at least in my part of the world.
December 31, 2008 at 2:34 am
PS – Deusdonat, your first link includes some Sierra Trading Post shoes that, sadly, are made in China. Not your fault, I realize. It’s just harder than you think it is.
And we’re beyond the preschool shoe sizes but not ready to drop $100 on shoes for a ten-year-old. We try hard – as I said, summer shoes work out okay – but where I live (and we’re hosting an inauguration in a few weeks!), snow boots and dress shoes are MIC. Only.
December 31, 2008 at 2:52 am
As an adult, I’ve found that better quality things are worth the price because they last longer. Clothing, appliances, cars, etc. But kids shoes and pants would probably be the exceptions to that rule. I don’t even try any more.
December 31, 2008 at 4:25 am
Nancy – I absolutely get your point, believe me. Odd that the link had MIC shoes. The link was SPECIFICALLY “shoes not made in china”.
Daddio, I also agree with “you get what you pay for”. I’m the furthest thing from a fashion fanatic and try to stear clear of anything that even smells remotely trendy. But I do buy brands that I know are known for durability and from places I know have a good reputation for dealing with their employees fairly and a good return policy.
And further to your point, there’s a saying in Spanish (and may other languages): “lo barato sale caro” which means “that which is cheap becomes expensive”. I wouldn’t trust my car or home structure with cheap materials because I know it’s not worth it in the long run.
Hey, how did this website become the home shoppers network?
December 31, 2008 at 12:47 pm
Deusdonat,
It happens (the MIC links) – SEO isn’t perfect. Sierra Trading Post has some great deals (besides having lots of non-MIC items), but they do carry some Chinese-made things. That’s why online clothing/shoe shopping doesn’t work too well for us.
You know how it is – we Catholics have 2,000 years of shopping tradition behind us…gotta spread the good shopping news…
December 31, 2008 at 2:24 pm
We spent 100$ on a pair of “Made in Brazil” shoes for my husband, but he keeps his shoes 7-10 years.
The problem with kids’ shoes is that you’re not keeping them until they wear out, you’re keeping them until the kid’s feet grow.
I do buy nicer kids’ clothes when I can, because those get handed down. But broken in shoes are very foot-specific, and sharing shoes nw can lead to foot-surgery later. (A clear case of cheap becoming VERY COSTLY.)
Of course, I actually LIKE Walmart. Why? Because its low prices allow me to stay home with our kids, and allow us to keep having more kids! We patronize small businesses when we can (We also patronize lage, even cheaper stores, like Aldis) but it seems silly to single out Walmart as evil.
Why is Walmart bad and Target good? After all, Walmart is willing to open in rural and impoverished areas where there are few choices. Target’s prices are similar (and their stuff IS nicer) but they only open in wealthier neighborhoods and shun small towns. So isn’t Walmart actually providing a valuable service to those of us who live in the middle of nowhere?
I have no problem with the “Crunchy-Con” mentality– I just wish its practitioners would realize that it often comes with a minimum income requirement! And that other people do what THEY have to to live within THEIR means….
There are trade-offs for everyone, whatever their lifestyle. But I don’t think it’s particularly helpful to accuse others of being lazy or making their decisions in bad faith… unless they’re clearly in violation of church teaching. “Made in China” and “Shopping at Walmart” are not specifically addressed in the catechism!
December 31, 2008 at 3:14 pm
BTW- Startrite shoes run about $50.00 a pair USD, and don’t seem to be able to ship to the USA….
December 31, 2008 at 8:51 pm
Deusdonat:
http://www.snopes.com/business/alliance/dolltalk.asp
re: the talking doll — not a true story, but check it out.
January 7, 2009 at 5:28 pm
When my kids were small, from baby to beginning high school, I remember a time when my husband told me we could spare exactly $100 to shop for school clothes for the SIX kids we had in school at that time. We went to an outlet type store called Philadelphia Sales. The cheapest sneakers there were $5.99, next up was $9.99. I had tell my kids that no, they could not have 9.99 sneakers, they had to pick from whatever there was at 5.99. Same with the jeans, whatever was the cheapest. Each kid got a pair of sneakers, a pair of jeans, new underpants, and a package of two T-shirts. The final total after several hours, was $103. I stood there in line with my baby crying, and looked at the stuff. Which child would I tell he could not have one of these items? I wrote the check for $103 dollars. My husband was very angry at me, we had agreed on $100, you don’t spend money you don’t have, the check could easily bounce, etc. Somehow it didn’t, somebody delayed putting a check in until after payday.
But what I mean to say is, when you are living at that level, you just can’t worry about where the stuff is made. Most of the rest of what the kids had did come from thrift stores (and what is wrong with an umbrella from the thrift store, by the way?) and I would have bought sneakers there also, but kids wear out their sneakers; there aren’t any kids sneakers in thrift stores. I bought soccer shoes in the thrift store, because that was the only way my kids were going to have any.
I also treated sore throats and ear infections with vitamin C and generic acetaminophen, and coughs with home made concoctions of herbs and syrup made from wild chokecherries. The need to go to the doctor was a budget killing disaster. (no medical insurance.)
When people talk about going to Europe and then have opinions about what poor folks ought to buy, I don’t take them very seriously.
I am not so poor any more. I still get most of my clothes from thrift stores, as one can find Land’s End and LL Bean stuff there quite often. Occasionally I now order stuff from a catalog, when they have “overstock” sales. If I see a clothes label from any country where it is likely that people are making them under poor labor conditions, I pray for the people. And I do think they probably would rather have those jobs than no jobs.
Susan Peterson